A wide variety of wager-based or “gambling” games are known. These games have various rules and may be presented using a variety of equipment. For example, table games may be presented at a gaming table using equipment such as cards, dice, a roulette wheel or the like. Machine-based games may be presented via rotating reel slot machines, video slot machines, video poker machines and the like.
Gambling games are generally classified into two different types: (1) “chance” games—where the outcome of the game is primary dependent upon chance (even if some skill may be involved), and (2) “skill” games—where the outcome of the game is primarily dependent upon the skill of the player. In the United States, historically only wagering games of chance have been permitted. However, skill-type wagering gaming is a new focus.
There are significant problems confronted when trying to develop wager-based skill games. One problem is configuring the game so that the player has a reasonable opportunity to win their wager (and be awarded winnings), while at the same time offering some predictability of the game being profitable to the game operator.
In the case of “chance” type games, the player does not control the outcome of the event. Thus, the odds of a winning or losing outcome of the event can be more closely controlled to achieve these criteria. For example, in a slot-type game, the symbols on the slot reels and particular winning combinations of symbols then displayed by the slot reels can be carefully selected so that a random spinning of the reels results, on average, in a particular percentage of winning and losing outcomes. Generally, the game is designed so that the percentage of winning outcomes is sufficiently high—at least coupled with the payout for the winning outcomes, to make the game exciting to the player (a game may have a high frequency of winning outcome but then lower average payouts or might couple a lower frequency of winning outcomes with outcomes having higher payouts, in order to make the game exciting to the player).
The payouts for winning outcomes are selected so that, based upon the probabilities of winning and losing outcomes, the average player payback, e.g. the amount of wagers returned to players as winnings for winning outcomes, is less than 100%. In the case of a slot machine, the average payback may be selected to be in the range of 93%-97%. This means that the remaining 3%-7% of all wagers are lost and thus retained by the casino as winnings (often referred to as the house hold). In this scenario, each individual player is enticed to play the slot game because they perceive that they have a reasonable chance of receiving winnings. Yet, over the long term, there are a sufficient number of losing wagers that the house receives revenue associated with the offering of the game.
Video poker games are classified as games of chance, and yet they involve some skill by the player (in selecting cards to hold/discard, for example, from their initially dealt cards). However, winning poker hands can be chosen, along with their associated payout, so that even if a player plays with a perfect game strategy, the player return on wagers will average less than 100%, thus ensuring a house hold for the game operator.
Thus, one problem with skill-based wagering is how to design a skill-based game which offers wagering which is both attractive to the player and the house. In this regard, unlike games of chance, the probability of a player obtaining a winning outcome in a game of skill largely depends upon the player's skill (rather than chance). This has two implications. First, the house then faces different probabilities of winning based upon players having different skill levels. Second, the attractiveness of the game to the player varies depending upon the player's skill.
What is needed are skill-based wagering games, systems and devices which offer individual players and/or groups of players the opportunity for attractive wager-activities having outcomes, and thus associated awards, which are primarily (if not solely) dependent upon the player's skill.